I’m sure you have heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” right? Well its true offline and in the online world too. Marketing online home-based and small businesses owners fail to convert prospects into leads due to the lack of trust they convey with their website and overall online presence.

This is particularly true for small and home-based business owners who don’t have a “store front” location.  Your online presence is what will “sell” you to prospective clients. Keep in mind people like to make a visual connection with you. You may be shy or afraid to put yourself out for the world to see (or judge). Maybe not intentionally; however, not using your picture may appear as if you are hiding.

Why?

The “know-like-trust” factor. Here’s another common saying, “People like to buy from people they know, like and trust.” When marketing online adding your picture to your website and social media presence will build trust and confidence with your prospective clients.

Marketing online here are five places to help you stop hiding and build a bigger online presence:

1. Twitter

When I first started using Twitter I made a huge mistake. I uploaded a picture of my logo instead of a picture of me. For weeks I was struggled to get followers. Then, I realized my business was built around me, not my company logo. Tweeple [that’s what people are called on Twitter :-)] could not make a connection with the logo because my image is the brand. I quickly solved the problem and my followers started to dramatically increase when I uploaded my picture.

2. LinkedIn

This is my rule on LinkedIn: I simply do not accept a connection with anyone who does not have a photo. Let me explain. It’s not that I care what you look like, it’s the fact that having a picture helps me make a personal connection to you. In fact, the LinkedIn terms-of-use policy (see section 10: Do’s and Don’ts item B-25) clearly states NOT to “upload a cartoon, symbol, drawing or any content other than a head-shot photograph of yourself in your profile photo.”

3. Facebook

We like to share photos from the weekend on hanging out with family and friends. Here’s a thought; how about adding pictures to your Facebook business page of you conducting business too? Have someone take your picture during networking events, while you’re speaking to a group, or with you interacting with clients.

4. Website

If the only place prospective clients can find your picture is the “About” page, they may never see you. Since the website belongs to you, you can post a different picture on each page or use the same picture on every page. Either way, this is an opportunity to let your personality shine and build that trust factor.

5. Business Card

Real estate agents have been using their photo on businesses cards for years, so why don’t we (home-based and small business owners)? Have you ever gone through a stack of business cards after a networking event trying to connect a name to a face of the many card you collected. I must admit, after flipping through the stack of business cards I collect, the ones that stand out have a photo. Note to self: This is a great idea —  guess it’s time for ME to order new business cards!

Ask yourself, “are you hiding?” If you want to build a business of your dreams, marketing online you have to put yourself out there!

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